Fairey (FP) Music Band

Conductor: Bryan Hurdley

Champion Brass – Phil Beck Promotions
Uppermill Civic Hall
Saturday 11th October

It really does not seem five minutes since Fairey's became National Champions in London, and yet, the famous trophy was on display for the last time during their 2002-03 reign. The band performed a programme of music, which was probably chosen to not stretch their lips too much, ahead of their title defence in London. Nevertheless, the quality of the playing was what anyone would expect from the calibre of a band like Fairey's and certainly worthy of them being addressed as ‘National Champions'.

The band opened with the march written in 1895 by John Philip Sousa when the famous Sousa band was booked to play during the Cotton States Exposition, King Cotton. To this day, it remains as one of Sousa's most popular marches, and this performance, rocked you back in your seat right from the opening notes.

Lionel Monckton was one of Britain's truly outstanding melodists – as pre-eminent in his own generation as Arthur Sullivan before him or Eric Coates afterwards. Despite all his successes in the late eighteen and early nineteen hundreds, its The Arcadians, for which he is best known, and the aforementioned overture was Fairey's next offering, and it was delivered in such a slick and efficient manner, that was it concluded before you knew it.

Principal Cornet Ian Porthouse was the first soloist of the night, and no thrills or triple-tonguing here. The choice of solo was ‘Someone Cares' from the pen of Salvationist, Ray Steadman-Allen. Ian demonstrated why he has been one of the best cornet players around over the last few years with an impeccable rendition of a slow, beautiful, reflective, melody – gorgeous playing – thank you soloist!

Next up was one of those pieces that shows that anything the Principal Cornet can do, other cornet players can do as well. Step forward, Neil Heywood, Lee Rigg & Fairey stalwart, Brian Taylor, to display their virtuoso skills in the Three Trumpeters. It might been a bit of fun, but these three boys played together in unison, and they were well received by audience at the conclusion of the piece.

The name Andrew Duncan is to known to many as composer and arranger. It would be no surprise if another Duncan arrangement wins a prize (or two) at the forthcoming Brass in Concert Championships come November. Without doubt, one of Andy's most popular arrangements being performed by some of the top of the top bands at the moment, is his ‘Cartoon Classics' – a tribute to all the famous cartoon characters that have appeared on the tv screens in recent years. Once again, Fairey's really did make light work of the music performing with consummate ease.

One of Sir Malcolm Arnold's favourite brass band pieces, is his ‘Little Suite for Brass'. Composed in the 1960's for the Cornwall Youth Band, the middle movement, entitled ‘Sicillene' is probably performed more than the other two movements. Once again, we heard from Fairey's how to play in a beautiful quiet reflective manner, with some lovely cornet work from Ian Porthouse.

Fairey's are about to release a Compact Disc on the SP & S label, which features all of their star soloists. This will include Principal Horn player, Owen Farr. Owen acts as a tutor in a number of educational establishments, and is one of the members of SONAR Brass – the highly acclaimed Brass Quintet. Owen stepped forward to perform his own arrangement of Arban's Carnival of Venice, heard hundreds of times by brass band audiences on a variety of instruments. The only thing to say about Owen's performance is that it was phenomenal! It really was different class and with no disrespect to Messrs Porthouse, Neil Hewson and Morgan Griffiths (who featured in the second half) Owen was on a completely different planet. Goodness knows how many notes were involved, but they were performed effortlessly, and to a standard that left the audience breathless never mind the soloist.

Fairey's concluded their first half with ‘Jupiter'' from ‘The Planets' that had been used at The Open a month earlier. Same band, same arrangement, but different performance, in the sense, that contest day can bring tension and pressure, whereas in a concert, the opportunity is their to relax and play just as in rehearsal. This was classy, the tempos at times were tremendous, and as someone said behind me afterwards, ‘If only they had had performed like that in Birmingham...'

The second half commenced with the up-tempo ‘Birdland' by Joe Zawinul, superbly arranged for brass band by Sandy Smith, which featured the skills of Kevin Crockford on soprano. Next up was flugel player, Neil Hewson, who has been delighting brass band audiences in recent months with his rendition of ‘Children of Sanchez'. This is one of those pieces that gives the soloist some poetic licence and encourages the odd touch of swagger, and Neil did not disappoint.

Film music is a must for bands nowadays, and for their film slot, Fairey's chose to play ‘Soul Bossa Nova' which is from the Austin Powers movies. A real change in tempo (and mood) was next on offer. Music from composer, Gordon Langford, with two movements from ‘Three Howarth Impressions'. Once again, in ‘Three Bells' and ‘Worth Valley Railway', Fairey's demonstrated that whatever the style of the music, they can turn their hand to it, without any trouble at all. The playing was exquisite, extremely reflective and tender and once again, some lovely cornet playing from Ian Porthouse.

The final soloist of the night was euphonium player, Morgan Griffiths. Arguably the finest player of his generation, Morgan chose a solo that was performed on cornet by the great Harry Mortimer – ‘Shylock' by Thomas Lear. Morgan's playing is always to an exceptional standard, and that's what the audience was given. It simply was, top class playing, from a top class player!

Fairey's chose to save their lips a little with Leonard Ballentine's ‘I know Thou Are Mine' which is another gem from the Salvation Army, before moving into the finale, The Symphonic Dances from ‘West Side Story'. Apart from Jupiter and Birdland, this one of the few occasions that Fairey's really were at full tilt, and the quality of the playing was simply ‘out of this world'. The encore from the band was a chance to display their vocal skills with Neil Hewson and Jon Davies taking the leading roles in ‘Nothing like a Dame'.

So that was that, an absolutely superb evening of music making by the National Champion Band of Great Britain. As to whether the famous trophy is still in their possession when the band takes the stage for the Gala Concert after the contest, depends on the messages that are sent (in the form of their performance) to the judges in the box in London. The answer lies in the hands of the other competing bands, and hence, could be something of an enigma.

Malcolm Wood

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